Tag: Timothy Leary

What’s ‘today’s’ 50-Year-old Issue – here featuring ‘The Bed-In’ in Montreal – have to do with our current 2019 reality? It’s a Double-Header ~ all wrapped up in those 2 song titles of this Throwback Thursday. (Ah… you hadn’t noticed?) And, I’ll say, too, that John Lennon is our central figure… as he wrote both of them.

First, I think it’s a given as to why “Give Peace a Chance” is still relevant – since it was first penned, it’s been a half-century of war without cessation. And, yet, the news of the day is that our own Administration is upping the ante – it’s fighting hard to sell arms – 8 Billion+, as a matter of fact – with the newly raised old argument of ‘maintaining the ‘Balance of Power’ in order to prevent war’.

And, oh, yes… once the Executive Branch slaps Congress aside, it will need to (again, just like in the good old days) help out all those other countries we just put at a disadvantage. But, hey, it makes those cash registers ring, doesn’t it, Mr. Trump?
Pardon me for a moment, and let me slip in this fun fact: in the 130 or so of these 50-Year-old Throwback Thursday Issues I’ve written since the 2016 Inauguration, I’ve not ever — not even once – typed in that person’s name into this feature. Does that seem odd?

Or not any more odd than the fact that Give Peace A Chance, recorded in early June ’69, was an undeniable anti-war anthem of immense popularity (hot on the Billboard Hot 100 when released in early July, sung that November by 500,000+ demonstrators on the Vietnam Memorial Day, rechartering in ’81, and making it to #1 with a Yoko Ono vocal in 2008) – ALL without ever saying that ugly 3-letter word.

Yeah, I, too, thought and did get away without pointing to the obvious – but now it seems that not naming he who should be nameless is, essentially, pointless. And maybe even dangerous, in that it’s important that we all recognize that this is not America’s native orientation, this is Trump’s. And it is he who has to be tossed before America is forced, by him, to take a step too far.

So let that song’s mainline hum away in your head and keep you on track,. Let’s hope it keeps us all on track.

As to that other song – well, hey, it’s too much fun to miss – so I’m putting in the video link right now. (You can go to it below.) But, first, how does it possibly relate to anything here, at all?? Well… there’s John – as mentioned previously – and Timothy (the ‘Timmy’ in GPAC) and our own, current, rush by just about everyone to run for Office. In those days, Leary, too, had it in his head – he thought Cali was ready to have him as its Governor.

With a campaign slogan of “Come Together, join the party.” he had John write it’s theme song! So far, so good, right? Not quite. He still had a date with the judge on another marijuana charge and – unbelievably – wasn’t keen on Lennon’s effort. He turned it down, but it turned out OK – John eventually got out of bed, re-wrote, and re-purposed it. Now, too, an anthem on it’s own, here’s “Come Together” featuring its un-credited, but actual, co-writer (nope, Paul didn’t have a thing to do with this one). Enjoy – I know you know all the words 🙂

Is that all for this Issue? Heck, no. After all, it is our largest to date ~ 72 pages divided into 3 parts. There’s our leading section of poli sci insights, this one reporting on the wide-spread Venice drug busts of John Does, a troubling coming-soon-to-us visit by the Subversive Activities Control Board, LACC campus politics, Chicanos busted by informers, the conundrum of the 2 James earl Ray(s), the Guatemala situation, the winning ways of the GI Mutiny, and the dangerous development of the women vs. the institution of marriage(!), and our ever-entertaining Letters to the Editor.

A section section is devoted to the art scene – what’s ‘playing’ and what can be thought about it all – by Gene Youngblood, Liza Williams, Paul Schrader, John Wilcock, Harlan Ellison, and others. The 3rd section, is our monthly Living Arts. In this one you could find book reviews (i.e. Die Nigger Die by Rap Brown, reviewed by Earl Ofari, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution by John Womack, reviewed by Alex Apostolides, and many more by other writers you might not have thought worked for the LA Free Press), an article on the LA radio market, poetry, interviews with or pieces on artists of all genres (this edition – Ginsberg by Lawrence Lipton, and John Mayall interviewed by John Carpenter). There’s even a serialization of an un-published book by Edmund Carpenter and Marshall McLuhan!

Well, while the publishers of nudist magazines got off scot-free, the LA Free Press got hammered. A bit more of an explanation…

As you can see from the article in the bottom right, Free Speech Rights were upheld with a ruling that magazines promoting the joys of being a nudist were not pornographic. What you don’t see is a reference to any earlier article about the Beverly Hills ACLU Chapter’s involvement in this matter.
So, for your edification and entertainment, we’ll pluck that from our feature column (Flashback Fridays) in our DAILY newspaper (yes! we do have one of those). That article is at this link: http://uniquenewspaper.com/aclu-stands-up-for-nudists/

As to the LA Free Press…it still needs its own day in court; the top headline indicates that, thus far, the police department, instead of the courts, has been the arbitrator of what the LA FP can and cannot report on. And the sub-headline ‘Free Press Writer Gets Battered’ and story below that, makes it obvious that ‘cannot’ is more likely to be their decision in many instances. (For those of you on the edge of your seats about how this all turns out… we did get our day in court… and, ummm, and the court (not saying there was any ‘undue influence’) was not all that keen on us, either. We should have called the ACLU, too!)

But, wait. There’s also that article on a civil liberties lawyer getting arrested, and then one about some community college students’ umbrage over restrictions on their right to speak out freely. Seems to be a theme here, hey?

Nevertheless, as I know Tim Leary’s name caught your eye, too, I’m thinking that the ‘Police Statement on LSD’ will be of some interest, as well. Here it is for your perusal… and to be put to good use.

This LA FP Front Page bristles with ‘anti-censorship’! First, there’s that ominous headline: ‘Last Chance At Savage Truth’. What’s that all about? It’s a full page on the Edward Kienholz Exhibition, what his art says, and who had what to say about him saying it or not.

In columns 2 and 3, under the headline ’60 UCLA Faculty Members Protest Club Registration’ is an article that actually promotes registration of a club; a stance against the club being classified by the Attorney General, Nicholas Katzenbach, under the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950. It’s the W.E.B. DuBois Clubs that are in the cross hairs, and it seems to be an effort to silence the swelling membership of anti-war protestors. For the record,the faculty members are not saying that they either support or protest the war, themselves, rather, importantly, that the freedom to protest should not be annihilated by such a tactic. If you would like to know more about the Club, Click HERE
(When you arrive to that link, Click ON the picture of the original LA FP page to read that original article. If you’ve a substantial comment, please send it onto us for publication consideration.)

In columns 4 and 5, the ‘Anti-Censorship Meeting Plans Permanent Group’ is the meeting that we told you, last week, was coming. It’s Members are an impressive group, and their purpose is also in the interest of on-going freedom of expression. Also along those lines, inside the Issue, we’ve an article on Andy Warhol… and his anti-all take on the culture of the times.
Here are the continuations of those Front page articles:

Finally, as we usually do, here are some tidbits ~
*Front Page picture of Trina Robbins…not just a Beauty Queen, but possibly the true catalyst of the Underground Comix from a chance remark to Flo Steinberg in Stan Lee’s office. (We know you’ve heard of him, let’s us know if you want to hear more about these two, as well. Both went onto ‘comic careers’, and certainly some mention of the LA FP’s role in the genre should be made. Yeah, we can do that… maybe some of the covers featuring the Furry Freak Brothers, and so on. Up for that?)
*The Warhol article is by Paul Jay Robbins… someone who, apparently, appreciated many of Trina’s talents. To his own credit, not only did he write, but he bravely went where few other reporters did; back about a month ago (in 1966, of course) he actually took the Acid Test before reporting on it. btw… the LA FP is THE repository for the history of the Acid Test’s LA trip.
*The Kienholz article is by Jeanne Morgan… another LA FP Staff Member we should put on our Staff Page. So we will.
*Lawrence Lipton has more remarks on Ralph Ginzburg, and there’s an ad by The Committee to Protest Absurd Censorship in support of Ralph.
*There’s also an ad for a lecture by Dr. Timothy Leary.

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